Investors Continue to Move Hard Into Silver

The reasons for silver’s surge are multifaceted. For one, it's a cheaper alternative than gold. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) trades hands at $20.23. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): $124.83

But, more broadly, investors are lining their portfolios with silver for the same reason they’re buying gold: They’re betting that central bankers will keep printing money as they try and combat a weakening economy.

Or, as Bill Fleckenstein of Seattle-based Fleckenstein Capital told us for our recent article, Silver Giving Gold a Run for its Money: “There is a bid for stores of value as people try and protect themselves against the depreciating worthless confetti that we call money. None of these currencies are worth anything. We have printed money like drunken sailors and that leads to inflation.”

Investor demand remains strong: As of September 10, the silver holdings of exchange-traded funds have risen by 33.6 million ounces so far this year. That’s in addition to the jump of 150 million ounces last year, according to CPM Group, a New York-based commodities market research firm.

We also put in a personal call to the good folks at the US Mint to find out how much silver your friends and neighbors have been buying. It’s pretty impressive.

They tell us that sales of American Eagle silver coins at the United States Mint have now already risen an estimated 24% in the first three quarters of this year.